Brennan was born in the mid-1990s with osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease, which stunted his growth and confined him to a motorized wheelchair. He estimates he had broken bones 120 times in his first 19 years. His short arms don't let him pick items off the floor or out of cupboards; Brennan uses mechanical reacher arms to reach into cabinets, or to turn on water faucets, though this makes the reacher arms break about once a month. His disability restricted his childhood play activities, so he was "hooked" on his first computer at the age of 6, and wrote his first independent computer program at the age of 13. Brennan was active in Internet culture from an early age, being introduced to 4chan in 2006, helping mirror Encyclopedia Dramatica during its shutdown in 2011, and joining Wizardchan, an Internet community for male virgins, in 2012. He bought Wizardchan from the original administrator in March 2013 and owned it until September 2013, when he resigned after losing his virginity.